Minor Unfinished Projects
The Jim Henson Company and Disney's Muppets Studio have developed, purchased scripts and announced serveral Muppet films and specials over the years. Many have been announced, but only a select few have made it to fruition or even went beyond the early development stages. ''The Adventures of Rowlf in Outer Space'' The Adventures of Rowlf in Outer Space is the title of a script conceived of during the rise in popularity of Rowlf the Dog as seen on The Jimmy Dean Show. It was possibly meant to be a sketch on that show. The plot for this space adventure involved Rowlf travelling to planets and solar systems far outside of our own. On one such planet, everything is on wheels -- people, animals, trees, shopping centers, etc. Inhabitants of the planet have to roll on by from east to west because the nights are so cold, so they keep moving to stay in the sun. Rowlf gets tired of walking, especially when he has to push his rocket ship in a wheel barrow. Sometimes he gets tired and sits to watch the world go by -- at which time a song cue would be called for. Throughout his journeys, Rowlf encounters many trials and tribulations and in one case, manages to save an entire civilization of Fneebs from the Horrendous Fneeb-Eating Ka-Zunch. A script outline is held in the files of the Jim Henson Company Archives. ''Johnny Carson and the Muppet Machine concept art]] ''Johnny Carson and the Muppet Machine was a television special conceived of by Jerry Juhl and Jim Henson in 1969. Details, proposal sketches and the rough layout of the story were published in the book Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles. ''The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow'' The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow' was a proposed Thanksgiving television special with music intended to be written by Raymond Scott. No date exists in the Henson Archives for this special, but Mr. Scott's involvement implies that it may have been developed sometime between 1965 and 1969. Manhattan Research, Inc. book, chapter by Karen Falk and Irwin Chusid. ''The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made'' In a 1998 interview, Jerry Juhl described a film idea that he and Henson had planned: Picture-book specials Following the 1986 airings of The Tale of the Bunny Picnic on ABC and The Christmas Toy on HBO, the cable channel considered producing more in the series of "picture-book specials". A 1988 article in Channels, a magazine for the television industry, revealed that "Henson has ten specials in development that he would like to place, including a Valentine's Day program called Puppet Love starring Muppet dogs, and a special called The Lizards for the summer. These will eventually be turned into a series of videocassettes distributed by HA. And the books, published by Henson's publishing division with Scholastic, will further the publishing aspirations of the company." Loevy, Diana. "Inside the House That Henson Built", Channels. March, 1988. Muppet Voyager The 1988 article in Channels also mentioned an international Muppet project: "There are children in the world who have never heard of the Muppets, in China, Africa, India and the Soviet Union, and Henson is excited about reaching audiences in those countries. One project in development, Muppet Voyager, could serve as a vehicle for reaching some of them. It would shoot in a different country every week." Loevy, Diana. "Inside the House That Henson Built", Channels. March, 1988. Miss Piggy mystery books A July, 1990 article in Publisher's Weekly described a merger between Muppet Press with Disney Press in "the impending acquisition of Henson Associates". The article mentioned that "plans are in the works for a line of Muppet Babies toddler books, a Miss Piggy mystery series and a biography of Henson by Louise Gikow." Schnol, Janet. "Disney to Launch Book Division with Startups and an Acquisition", Publisher's Weekly. July 27, 1990. Untitled Halloween project ]] A year after Jim Henson's death, a short piece in ''TV Guide talked about plans for the Muppets' return to television: The early treatments of the Halloween special included scenes where the Muppet characters turned into classic Hollywood monsters (i.e., Kermit/Frankenstein, Piggy/Bride of Frankenstein, Fozzie/Wolfman to name a few). The same idea was later explored in a Henson video game, Muppet Monster Adventure. The idea for a haunted Muppet production would be re-explored with The Muppets' Haunted House (see below). Screaming Edith A 1993 Wall Street Journal article mentioned plans for a new Muppet project: ''Muppet Time Travel Muppet Time Travel (also known as Muppet Time Machine) was first mentioned in a Jim Henson Company press release in 2001. A script was written by John Derevlany and involved Animal stumbling into one of Dr. Honeydew's time-traveling appliances, and going back to the Stone Age, where he inadvertently becomes evolution's missing link. Finding themselves living in a world of humans descended from Animal, including the wild Postman Joe, Kermit and friends must go back in time to fix things. ''Kermit, Prince of Denmark In 1999, Jeff Marx and Bobby Lopez wrote eight songs and a script treatment for a Muppet feature film called ''Kermit, Prince of Denmark. Like The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island before it, this was a loose adaptation of an earlier work, this time William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. In the script, Kermit accidentally travels to Denmark, where he turns out to be the exact double of Prince Hamlet and is frequently mistaken for him. Gonzo and Fozzie were to take on the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, while Miss Piggy would play both the "lovely Ophelia and the generous Gertrude". Jason Alexander is listed in the treatment as the evil King Claudius.Avenue Q: The Book, p. 11 The project was conceived as a musical, with Marx and Lopez writing songs for the project as part of their participation in the BMI Workshop, a training ground for many composers, lyricists, and book writers in the musical theater. Marx and Lopez won the 2000 Kleban Award, a $150,000 endowment to encourage musical theater writers, for the lyrics (they tied with four other writing teams and received $37,500 of the total endowment). The project was sent to the Jim Henson Company, but according to Jeff Marx: "Brian Henson said he wasn't interested, and that was that." Marx and Lopez would go on to write the acclaimed Broadway smash Avenue Q, which in part parodies characters from Sesame Street. Marx said that the experience of being rejected by Henson made them determined not to write for other people's characters again. When Disney acquired the Muppets in 2004, Marx and Lopez were approached by Chris Curtin, then-head of the Muppets Holding Company, about turning Kermit, Prince of Denmark into a film. However, when Curtin left the company, nothing more was done with the project. Songs * Off to Denver * There's More Than One Pig in the Sea * Something About Him * Claudius Rejoices (King For Awhile) * Without You * Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Doing The Mambo * Talk * In Unexpected Places ''Kermit's Christmas Capers'' Kermit's Christmas Capers was announced as a proposed television special for the 2005 holiday season however the project was cancelled before filming due to changes in management with the Muppets Holding Company. Muppet Christmas Capers, 2005 Untitled Segel/Stoller project In 2008 Disney has enlisted Jason Segel and Nick Stoller (of Forgetting Sarah Marshall fame) to create the next Muppet movie for the studio. Segel and Stoller will write the script and Stoller will direct.Michael Fleming. Segel and Stoller take on Muppets. March 12, 2008. Stoller commented on the film in a 2008 interview stating: ''The Muppets' Run for President'' An election special, intended to coincide with the 2008 Presidental election was written by Andrew Samson, Scott Ganz, and Hugh Fink for The Muppets Studio. The special was first announced in August 2008Muppets Assemble a Slate of Specials, however it was not produced. The writing trio revealed the title and discussed the project, the inital pitch and its unfortunate fate in the 89th episode of The MuppetCast.The MuppetCast episode #89 - December 21, 2008. The special would follow Miss Piggy's run for the White House (previously the home of President Animal). Sources See also *Unfinished Movies *Unfinished TV Shows Category:Unfinished Movies